Book 11. Gli!aar n~rtb :m:ctiiS. t Cor. 9· 27. i: u;zt:J _{ltbjifzion, /(ft that by. a~y meanr wherz I b.tve preacf,ed u;tto otbers, I my jc/f j/JOitld be a ca{l·un:>ay. lt IS an allufion to Wreftlers, who foug\11 for MaUe– rits, whe11 one did beat the other black and blev; about the face ; lo was he fain to wrclile with his body,to k._eep m!dcr bit body,and tobri11g bit b,Jy,by mortifying of his car– !111 lufis, i-tli jitbjdlion: He names not his lighting with the world and devil, though rhefe be pnt~nt enemies , but with the body only, becaufe they could not eafily hurt us , if this domeftical enemy , and home-bred ad oerfary, did not betray us; luCts lie in the body !ike tire i,, \~le flint, and aqy temptation will draw them om. This Satan marks in the fir£! p!Jce, tlut he may fuitabie tit his temptations to the temperature and di!po:ition of the body. - 1· s~metimes ne fers before fuch a one a taking object'; he prefent; or holds up a 2Sam 1r.:,3, fi&ht or Lpecbcle li.utablc to lm temper. Thus whenDJvidwJIII.!dupm the roof of the Ki11gt boufo, bef"r. a womJ>t wr.fhi"~ her folf, and the woman watvery be•utifuitolosk,_ Jtpm, and DJvid fem, and enquiredafiertbc woman. I make llO qudlioa but Satan had an lund in this: MJny a um, !uch a wanton object is caf\ inro the way by Satans tl:i!!,ht, and he needs do no more to overcome a Jafcivious mind, if he but lly, Sec yonder ;. a 1uk_ed breajr, a1lalzed arm, a 11a~ed 11Cc~, and if ji<chjigm banJ. atthe d""' you m1y f.'.ue[r wbt inumdcjly ft within: This he knows is taking, and thus he overcomes th0u!inds of n;en, by llming up theirlufls even through their eyes. ;, Satan deals with t;mn a degree further, he not only prefents fi1ch and luch an ob– ject, but he calls in, and inject, the motion, he llirs and moves the imagination (furely that is the devil- room wherein he cloth often appear) he works upon the imagi– nation many an impreiiioA, and many a fuggeflion to this and th•t bafdufl; in this l\om. 7 . 24 . r<fpcct may we all cry out, 0 wretched men th.t l"eare, whojht~d<iivermfi'om tbit body of death! or from thelc carnal lufis, which a1c a death to us, or which threaten our fpiritual death : Aman, while umblameable in his);fe, may yet have his imagination like a cage of unclean birds, an:l fo in his foul become guilty,before God. The A– pollle Peur fpeaks of Come, wbJ bad eyer fi•U of adulmy ( it is in the onginal, full of 2 Pcr.z. '4· the adulterds) and that ceafed not from fin: The meaning is, that imagina<i~n fee their eyes continually upon the Adulterers, fo that they ceafed liOt from fin, even while fhe was abfent ; they· might be rellrair.cd from theactiugs of En, and yet their hearts burned inwardly with lulls: And that is the meaning of the Prophet, 1hey have Hof.7· 6 • ,,.de ready tbeir beat /ill.! au oven; that as the oven heated is ready to bake any thing put thLrcin, fo was the heJJtof thofe wicked men prepared for any·kind of naughti– nefs , it lay in their heart aud imagination day and night: 0 the perpetual conllant workiqgs of Satan upon the imagination! We lay of other 1urrs of theSoul ' (as of the will and mind,) that they arc only li.1bject to !in whiks we are awake, but the fancy, f:;r imaginati:>n, is many times very finful in the night· time: How many pollmed and wicked dreams dq men fall into at fu .ch a time, at which they tremble, and abhor themfel ves, wh.., once awaked. . 4• Satan can d'o Comewhat more then inject and fuggdi fuch thoughts, for he cm mightily irritate and provoke; he can Ctir up the heart to be willing to give enter– ' Chron.u.r. rainment to fuch ·a full: At Saun flood up, and prov>k._ed David to ltnmber !fr•el, fo I '' · believe he flood up , and provoked David to lye with B>thjhcbd ; he did not only pre– fent the object , and move the imagination, but he provoked David, he never let him alone, but followed him, and folicited him to it. It is true, he could not force D6vit{. tQ do evil, the will is never forced by Satan, nor can it be, he ufes no compulfion beyond a · ->~ moral perfwafion well fet on, he hath no imperious efficacy over the w'l.l, ¥tt he can ·flrongly flir the imagination, agd that exceeding.l~provokes thewdl, that tt g1ves con– fent: And indeed it the foul be .naturally de!bruteof grace, It cannot wahlland the ftiggcllion and pro~ocations of Satan, bur an~n it yields. And this is the manner of Sa– tans ftirring up ftefhly lulls m the mmds and fpmts of the fons of men. SECT. IX. Of wreftlillg witb Satan to overcome tbit jiu. I F thisbe thy darling tin; if by theconlli tution and !',rain of thy body, or by tinifter e– ducation , or oth~rwi!~ , thy mind and heart nm much tillS way, then wrell:k thus.--·-- . .~ ·d - I• .n.VOI
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